Conventionally, telephone networks are capable of providing calling name and number services to subscribers. Typically, Voice over IP (VoIP) networks, like the Time Division Multiplex (TDM) based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), pull the billing (or subscriber) name information from Line Information Databases (LIDBs).
Some VoIP service providers allow customers to use their existing analog telephone sets by connecting their phone sets to an Analog Telephony Adapter (ATA). The ATA provides the analog signals needed to transmit calling number and billing name information to the attached analog telephone sets.
While billing name information retrieved from the LIDBs is generally accurate, the name identifier may not accurately identify the caller. For example, a caller may be known by a nickname, while the billing information may refer to the caller's legal name. As another example, a call placed from a business phone may identify the business, but not the caller.
As a result, customer premises equipment (CPE) or carrier equipment has been adapted to substitute the name of the caller from a personal address book (PAB) record containing a matching telephone number. Unfortunately, for this type of caller ID system to work, the personal address book is stored either in the called telephone or in the carrier.
There is an on-going need for an enhanced caller ID system that correctly identifies the caller.